Chapter 32Cain
Chapter Thirty-Two
CAIN
T he expression on Evan’s face when she saw the living room was completely painted will forever be engraved in my brain. I feel something that I’ve never felt before. I feel full of pride. And yeah, I’ve felt this feeling with the club but never with a woman. This brought a whole new meaning to the word. It makes me feel like maybe I am enough for her.
I wish I could take one hundred percent of the credit, but I can’t. Right after Evan left the clubhouse, Hash stopped me on my way in and said he wanted to take care of the damage that was done as a way to make it up to her for being a jackass.
And I was all for that.
We have enough shit going on to worry about that I don’t want to have to worry about my girl and a brother being at odds.
I freaked her out when I said that if we go the distance, I’ll be living here, too. In all honesty, it just kind of slipped out. She hasn’t said shit when I call her mine in front of the club. I’m taking that as a good sign.
Once we put up the new drywall and started painting, I had a lot of time to think. It freaked me out at first that I could picture myself fitting right in here, watching the game on the couch and watching Evan make us dinner at the island.
Fuck, I already feel at home.
Evan just has that way about her.
“I’m hungry, woman!” Cyrus yells to Evan from his seat, snapping her back into reality.
“Sorry! I was just admiring your handy work.” She winked at him as she walked into the kitchen and took out the burger to make patties.
“You got a grill babe?”
“Ah… no. I can cook and bake, but I can’t grill.” She lets out that laugh that I’ll never get tired of hearing. “I tried to grill turkey burgers once, and as soon as I put the meat on the grill, the burger just fell through the slats. That was the end of my grilling career.” Good thing she’ll never need to learn now that I’m here.
“I texted Storm while I was outside.”
All of the guys stopped talking as soon as they heard the fucker’s name.
“And?” How do you just drop that out of the blue and not say anything more about it?
“He was… weird. I asked him if he wanted to meet up here, and he was cool with it,” she says while setting the last burger in the pan to cook, clearly avoiding telling me the part about why she thought he was being fucking weird.
All of the guys’ eyes are narrowed on her, picking up the same thing I did.
“How was he weird?”
“He basically said he doesn’t want Zek— I mean Scotch.” She shoots Scotch a sorry look. I know it’s been hard on her to catch on to his road name.
“Babe, as long as it’s just us, you can call him whatever the fuck you want. In front of outsiders, it’s Scotch, alright?”
Evan nods her head before continuing. “Right. He said he no longer wants Zeke with me whenever we meet up. He said that he doesn’t want someone he doesn’t know in his business.” She pauses as her brow furrows. “Which, I get but… it’s never been an issue before. It’s not like Zeke tries to pry into his life. He doesn’t even talk to him.”
I share a look with the guys that they know all too well.
I have a bad feeling shit is going to hit the fan.
“Does he know your name?” I ask Scotch.
“Nah, I doubt it. I think I’ve maybe said ten words to this dude over the span of a few years. I always just hang back and let Evan do her thing.”
“Does he know that you’re part of the club?”
“It’s possible. I never took my cut off when meeting up with him, but I was also never close enough for him to confirm whether I was part of one or not.”
There’s only one explanation then. “Someone has tipped him off.”
“It wasn’t me.” Evan snaps before anyone else can get a word in. “I barely knew anything about you guys until Zeke said he needed help.”
“We know it wasn’t you, babe,” Hash says, relaxing Evan’s shoulders. You can tell she’s still thinking the guys think she has something to do with all of this.
“Someone had to have tipped him off. Otherwise, why all of a sudden, after years of meet-ups, would he be uncomfortable?” Ink asks.
And isn’t that the million-dollar question? Unless… “What if he wants to get Evan alone, and this actually has nothing to do with us? That would explain why someone was checking out her place.”
“Doesn’t explain the threat, though,” Trick adds.
“Fuck.” I lean my elbows on the counter on the island and scrub my hands over my face. None of this makes any fucking sense.
“Well, you guys will have your chance to get some answers because I told him Zeke wouldn’t be there, and he agreed to come tomorrow,” Evan says with her back to me as she plates up the burgers, giving me the perfect view of her ass that I wish I was bending over the counter right now.
“I don’t like the thought of you being alone with him,” I growl.
“Down boy. We talked about this earlier. We’ll be waiting for him,” Scotch says with a glint in his eye.
I know that glint. I’ve seen it a million times. It’s why he’s my head enforcer. This fucker will be begging for mercy by the time we’re done with him.